Gang Profiles

Crips

This gang was founded about 1968 by Raymond Washington (8/15/53-8/9/79) and his crime partners from the East Side (of Interstate-110) in South Central Los Angeles. Washington originally started up a gang called the "Baby Avenues", but after he got into a beef with one of the older Aves., he decided to start his own gang called the "Crips". By 1971, Stanley "Tookie" Williams (12/29/53-12/13/05) from the West Side (of Interstate-110) who had been hanging out with another gang called the "Gladiators", joined Washington and the "Crips" started really expanding in the L.A. area. There are many different versions of how the name came to be about and none of them are documented for sure. The most likely reason for the gang's name was the way they walked which was a ditty-bop strut as if crippled. Today, there is even a dance called "Crip Walk" during which the letters C-R-I-P are spelt out with the feet.

Some people will state that founder Washington carried around a picture of a "baby crib", but decided to call the gang "Crips", how silly does that sound? Some will say it came from the comic book "Tales from the Crypt", but there is little evidence of this either. Some will state that it stood for "Common Revolution In Progress". This is not true, but may be BGF influence, a prison gang few Crips ever join. Another myth is that the Crips branched off from the Black Panthers and imitated them for their black leather jackets. This is not true either Black leather jackets were one of the most prized possessions for many Black youth al across America, not just in L.A. The Crips were common thugs, and could not care less about helping the community. They mostly preyed on other Blacks, something the Panthers were strongly against. What it is true that the Crips and other Black gangs filled the void for disillusioned Black youth after many of the Panthers were killed or locked up in the early 1970's.

Some of the biggest sets in Washington State are: Neighborhood Crips, Rollin' 60s, Rollin' 90s, Kitchen Crips, and Long Beach Crip Sets (LBC, R20s, ICG, etc), as well as Hill Top Crips out of Tacoma, WA. Many Crips do wear blue, but not all. Grape Street Crips may wear Purple and Santana Blocc may wear Black. Hoovers (named after a street in L.A.) may call themselves Crip or stress their independence and will often use "Criminals" instead of Crip and wear more orange than blue. Crips will often address each other as "Cuzz" slang for cousin. Some of the symbols they may use are "BK" for Blood Killer. Crips will fight and kill other Crips. They may use "AK" for Anybody Killer or "EK" for Everybody Killer. While in the Mid-West and East Coast they may align with Black Gangster Disciples, this is not always true either, in some cases Crips and BGD’s will fight too.

GPS also teaches about Black gangs, Asian gangs, White Supremacists, and other Security Threat Groups. We have taught gang classes to many groups, including police, corrections, probation and parole officers, juvenile workers, schools, Job Corps, church groups, etc. if you are interested in our services. We look forward to hearing from you! Take care out there!

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